CHICAGO & SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the provider of Costco point-of-sale
(POS) and inventory information to the manufacturer community, today
announced the launch of its Costco Collaborative Retail Exchange (CRX)
in Australia. CRX is a single, global solution for category, POS and
supply chain tracking at Costco, which is available in United States,
Canada, Mexico and now Australia.

Launched in 2004, the state-of-the-art Costco CRX technology platform
gives manufacturers a detailed solution for total Costco tracking.
Rather than relying on several disparate data sources to gather
information, manufacturers can use this single, overarching tool to
obtain a full view of Costco’s global business. The platform provides a
consistent set of Costco internal data points to meet all Costco
manufacturer needs and facilitate a collaborative relationship between
manufacturers and buyers.

Costco CRX Australia Meets Growing Global Demand

IRI and Costco Wholesale have expanded the program with the launch of
Costco CRX Australia. More than 750 global vendors have participated in
the Costco CRX service since it launched in the United States in 2004
and in Canada in 2009.

“The Costco CRX platform has been a tremendous success in the United
States and Canada, so we’re thrilled to be able to offer our
manufacturers in Australia the same quality solution and enable a more
global view of Costco’s sales,” said Rick Woods, Costco Australia.

A Complete Supply Chain Management Solution

Because of Costco’s low operating margins, manufacturers must be
extremely diligent with forecasting and order management to avoid
inventory issues. With Costco CRX’s daily, updated suite of supply chain
management measures, including POS and inventory information,
subscribers can make faster business decisions, driving more accurate
forecasting and demand planning, more efficient business practices and
better overall success at Costco.

The inclusion of inventory metrics (in transit, on order and orders
received), complements the program’s existing inventory measures
(inventory on hand and average days of supply) to create a full supply
chain management solution.

Since the launch of Costco CRX’s enhanced supply chain capabilities in
2012, manufacturers have been able to gain a never-before-seen view of
their product before it even reaches Costco, allowing for significantly
more detailed and accurate forecasting. With these improved forecasts,
Costco CRX subscribers can optimise inventory levels at each warehouse,
reducing out of stocks and carrying costs, and ultimately lowering
operational costs.

About Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale is the largest wholesale club operator in the U.S. The
company operates 460-plus membership warehouse stores serving 45 million
cardholders in 37 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, Mexico,
South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, UK and Australia primarily under the Costco
Wholesale name. The Company also operates Costco Online, an electronic
commerce web site in the U.S., Canada, UK, Mexico, Taiwan and Korea, at http://www.costco.com.

About the IRI Partner Ecosystem

IRI fundamentally believes that delivering differentiated growth for
clients requires deep, highly integrated partnering with a variety of
best-of-breed companies. As such, IRI works closely with a broad range
of industry leaders to create innovative joint solutions, services and
access to capabilities to help its clients more effectively compete in
their various markets and exceed their growth objectives. IRI is
committed to its partnership philosophy and continues to actively
enhance its ecosystem of partners through alliances, joint ventures,
acquisitions and affiliations. The IRI Partner Ecosystem includes such
companies as Adobe, The Boston Consulting Group, comScore, Experian,
GfK, Gigwalk, Ipsos, Kantar Shopcom, MasterCard Advisors, MaxPoint,
Millward Brown Digital, Mu Sigma, Oracle, Place IQ, Research Now, SPINS,
Univision and others.

About IRI

IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and
forward-looking insights that help CPG, OTC health care organizations,
retailers and media companies to grow their businesses. With the largest
repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all
integrated on an on-demand, cloud-based technology platform, IRI helps
to guide its more than 5,000 clients around the world in their quests to
remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with
consumers and deliver market-leading growth. A confluence of major
external events—a revolution in consumer buying, big data coming into
its own, advanced analytics and automated consumer activation—is leading
to a seismic shift in drivers of success in all industries. Ensure your
business can leverage data at www.iriworldwide.com.